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Friday, December 2, 2011

Sally's Blog Tour of Quilts

First, thank you SO MUCH for all of the kind words that you've sent me about my book here on my blog, on Twitter, and over on Flickr. After working on the book for such a long time, it's incredibly rewarding to hear all of your thoughts on it. Oh, and guess what? Jeni has already made something from one of the book's patterns (Kaye's wonderful advent calendar pattern). Go check it out on her blog!

Today, I'm very excited to be participating in a Blog Tour of Quilts organized by Sally of Sally's Quilting Corner, and to welcome all new visitors here to Quilt Dad. Sally's tour is a virtual quilt show that includes 8 quilting bloggers and features a wide variety of fantastic quilts. There are even a few giveaways scattered throughout the tour, including a great Fat Quarter Shop prize over on Sally's blog ... so be sure to go enter! (Pssst ... I'm also offering a small prize, so be sure to read through the end of this post.)

I've been on a bit of a tear lately completing quilt tops, but first I want to share a quilt from my book.

I named this quilt "Christmas in the City", and I'd call it a non-traditional holiday quilt. Rather than using reds and greens, I used purple, teal, and aqua, which I think can be considered secondary Christmas colors. You see, I grew up in New York City, and my childhood memories of the Christmas season are comprised of scenes of chilly nights at Rockefeller Center and Times Square, and shopping trips with my grandmother to FAO Schwartz and 5th Avenue. My quilt made primarily of prints from Jay McCarroll's Habitat line, along with two different shades of purple shot cottons. All of the circles and dots remind me of blinking city lights and, while making it, I kept thinking that this would be the perfect Christmas quilt for a downtown loft.

This next quilt top was assembled from blocks made for me by members of the bee inspired virtual quilting bee. The blocks are made from one of my favorite collections -- Joel Dewberry's Deer Valley -- and I asked my fellow quilters to follow Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville's pattern for Pineapple Blossom blocks. I bordered the top with two shades of Moda Grunge.

Recently, my friend Thomas Knauer sent me some bits and pieces of his fabulous new collection for Andover Fabrics, Pear Tree. I love the colors of this line and wanted to make those bits and pieces stretch as far as they could. I decided on a fun Sweetwater pattern called Make Life ... Fresh and (again) added two borders of Moda Grunge. I love how the prints look like rows of bunting flags laid across the quilt top.

My final quilt for the blog tour is this next top, which I made primarily from the quilt block I designed for Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks magazine (you can read more about my block here.) As you can see, I chose to orient my blocks differently than the way it was photographed for the magazine. I again used the Olympus line by Clothworks, which resulted in a quilt with more of a Japanese feel than I would typically be drawn to, but I do like its bold and masculine nature.

I'll be back to share more pictures when I get all of these quilt tops finished up.

I hope you enjoyed this stop on the blog tour! The next stop is with the fabulous Heather Jones over at her blog, olive and ollie. Be sure to head over and check out her amazing quilts ... and tell her I said "hi"!

And to show my appreciation for checking out my quilts today, I'm offering a prize pack of some Moda Fabrics to one lucky reader. Simply leave a comment below and let me know which of my blog tour quilts is your favorite, and I'll randomly select a winner next week. Good luck, and thanks for stopping by!

I really like the bee quilt from Deer Valley. I am still drawn to the red/aqua combination, but I love how the colors are...dirtier...darker...I don't know how to describe it. And I LOVE the double border! I'll have to remember that trick! :)

I like christmas in the city best! And btw. congrats for beeing given the possibility of writing a book! It looks awesome and I'll add it to my wishlist - for my birthday next year =) Thanks for the chance to win!Happy sewing!

Wonderful quilts as ususal! I've been drawn to the design of the last quilt you posted ever since you made it as a mug rug. (was it called Ziggity??) Your quilt version is gorgeous with the reds and blacks and greys. Another hit!

My favorite is Christmas in the City-- such pretty colors! And the first thing I thought of when I saw all the circles is the pebbles in a mountain stream... really, really pretty!! :-) Thank you for a chance to win!! :-)

I like the grunge and the last one. I couldn't find a name. The colors combined with the designs works for me. Busy does not appeal to me, so I need solids to even things out a bit. Perhaps the large border on the grunge balances, and the break up with semi-solids on the last one balance it all for me. I like the Make Life Fresh too, but it was a little taunting, as if it was hiding something. It is just peaking out from behind the squares.

Congratulations on your new book John. That's great news!!All your quilts are gorgeous! If I have to pick, I still can't pick just one. hehe. I'm loving your Pineapple Blossom and the red and black quilt made from your block in Quiltmaker's. Thanks for sharing your quilts with us on Sally's hop.

I really like your quiltmaker 100 block quilt- I think its because of the graphic lines and bold colors or maybe because of the Japanese fabrics. It is a wonderful quilt John.Thanks for sharing the terrific quilts. Congratulations on the new book Too.Regards,Anna

All the quilt tops are fabulous, but my favourite is the Quiltmaker Olympus Quilt. I have a stack of red and black prints that I have collected over the years and I think this just might be the way to use them. Thanks!

Glad to see more men involved in quilting. I started a few years ago after I retired. I give all my quilts away, usually to grandkids, nieces, nephews, etc. I receive great pleasure in seeing their appreciation for the gift, that's all the reward I need. I lik!!e your site, keep up the good work